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Editorial Comments
Amazon.com essential video: Is Ed Wood the worst director who ever lived? His films are campy, clumsy, and hysterically inept, but their enthusiasm and good humor overcome incoherent scripts and wooden performances with heart, soul, and an infectious sense of fun. The jaw-dropping "documentary" Glen or Glenda is a bizarre confessional starring Wood himself as a misunderstood transvestite and Bela Lugosi as a smirking godlike narrator. "Pull ze string!" shouts Lugosi as Wood reveals his angora fetish and love of women's underwear to the world. Jail Bait is a dime-store crime thriller with inspired moments of grimy film noir tension emerging from the wooden dialogue and flat, sitcom-looking "drama," all set to an annoying guitar and piano score borrowed from Mesa of Lost Women. Lugosi returns as a mad scientist revenging himself on the world ("Home? I have no home!") in Bride of the Monster, a howler of a horror picture. Tor Johnson, the hulking Swedish wrestler turned B-movie icon, made his first Wood appearance as the lumbering beast Lobo (he almost knocks over the set in one scene!) tamed by the touch of angora. Finally there's Wood's "masterpiece," the clumsy, nearly incoherent, ridiculously cheap Plan 9 from Outer Space. A tall, skinny, blond chiropractor subs for short, raven-haired Bela Lugosi (who died after a few days of shooting), cardboard gravestones wobble as the actors walk by, and night and day randomly come and go within the same scene. The DVD also features the documentary Flying Saucers over Hollywood, a portrait of Wood and a celebration of Plan 9 that is actually longer than the film itself! --Sean Axmaker
Description: Glen or Glenda? (1953, 67 min.) - He loved women so much, he dared to dress like one! With Bela Lugosi as the "puppet master" and director Ed Wood himself in the title role, this film is a wildly entertaining plea for acceptance in the world of sexual confusion. "Jail Bait" (1954, 70 min.) - Inspired by TV's "Dragnet," this Ed Wood film tells of a rich but troubled young man who kills a cop and has plastic surgery to hide his identity. Starring sex kitten Dolores Fuller and introducing a young Steve Reeves. "Bride of the Monster" (1956, 69 min.) - Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi), with his crazed man-beast servant Lobo, is conducting flesh-burning radiation experiments in an attempt to create a legion of atomic supermen in one of cult filmmaker Ed Wood's best efforts. "Plan 9 from Outer Space (Special Edition)" (1956, 78 min.) - This legendary turkey features aliens in skating skirts zooming around in string-powered flying saucers to conquer the Earth with an army of zombies (well, three actually). Includes the 111 min. documentary "Flying Saucers Over Hollywood."
Post-Cult ^ Plan 9, like all Ed Wood films, has become too well known to properly be considered cult. This was someone who sincerely tried to make films without any budget whatsoever. The fact that these even made it into theatres was an accomplishment.
While Plan 9 is often considered the worst film, it isn't as bad is most make it out to be. One can watch this film from beginning to end without the urge to throw one's television out the window (try that with Howard The Duck). Granted he didn't produce much quality in his work, but had he been given a real budget who knows what he could have produced.
Not the Best Treatment.... ^ Before you get too excited over this, you should know that these are Wade Williams releases, and as such they are quite cheap in terms of quality. Three of the DVDs contain no extra features at all, having only the movie and a theatrical trailer.
A further problem is with the sound on these DVDs. All except for "Plan 9 From Outer Space" sound muted. I can't understand why Wade Williams didn't clear these problems up, or at the very least hired somebody like Cary Roan to do so.
But all of my complaining aside, these are enjoyable films, despite this treatment. They are, in order:
1) "Glen or Glenda" (1953, 68 minutes): Ed Wood's first major film! A very poorly acted retelling of the making of this movie can be found in the Tim Burton movie, but this is the original article, one of the more beloved of films by Ed Wood fans. This is also his most autobiographical, in it's tale of a man who enjoys dressing in women's clothing and has an angora fetish. With Bela Lugosi and Dolores Fuller.
2) "Jail Bait" (1954, 71 mins.): No mention of this movie was made in the "Ed Wood" film, due perhaps to the fact that Bela Lugosi was not in this. A part had been written for Bela, but the venerable actor was in the hospital when this was made. The part that Lugosi would have play, kindly Dr. Boris Gregor, went to actor Herbert Rawlinson. This is the most boring of titles in this collection; I think that it would have been better had they substituted "Night of the Ghouls" for this.
3) "Bride of the Monster" (1956, 69 mins.): This was always my personal favourite of all of Wood's movies. I don't know why. Bela's final film with Ed during his lifetime, playing mad scientist Eric Vornoff, striving to create a race of atomic supermen who can, apparently, deflect bullets by scowling at them. This introduces Paul Marco as Kelton the cop, a part that he would reprise for the Ed Wood movies "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Night of the Ghouls".
4)"Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959, 78 mins.): The best of the discs! The quality of this disc more than makes up for the lack in the others. The box says "almost starring Bela Lugosi", and this DVD has the best individual container, as well as the best looking disc. With Vampira, Jerome King Criswell, Tor Johnson, Conrad Brooks, and the wonderful Paul Marco, this is the tale of a group of aliens activating their 9th plan to take over Earth (the first 8 plans failed). This one also contains the documentary film "Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion. This documentary is much longer than the original film, and provides a much more accurate view of this movie than Burton was capable of bringing to the screen.
If you are a Woodian I would suggest you get this collection; if you are only curious you would probably do better to buy any one of these individually to see if you like it. It is my hope that soon enough of Ed Wood's remaining films will be available on DVD for "The Worst of Ed Wood II".
Excellent Badness ^ Anybody who appreciates the fine art of bad filmmaking are going to want this boxed set. All four of the films here are by Ed Wood, who (if you do not already know) was voted the worst director of all time in a Golden Turkey Awards survey. This set contains his greatest achievements:
Glen or Glenda – Ed Wood’s first film, and arguably his most incompetent. He stars as Glen (under the alias Daniel Davis), a normal man who just happens to be a transvestite, like Wood himself. Random stock footage is everywhere. Bela Lugosi narrates semi-coherently. Jail Bait – No, not a college sex comedy, but a crime thriller and “Dragnet” rip off. Cops Lyle Talbot and Steve “Hercules” Reeves are on the trail of two cop killers and robbers, as the father and sister of one of them try to help. Also starring Ed’s girlfriend Dolores Fuller. Bride of the Monster – Hilariously incompetent turd, with Bela Lugosi hamming it up as Dr. Eric Varnoff, a mad scientist with a penchant for strange atomic experiments. Tor Johnson plays his mute assistant, Lobo. Paul Marco makes his debut appearance as Kelton the Cop, comedy relief of two other Ed Wood films (“Plan 9” and “Night of the Ghouls.”) Plan 9 From Outer Space – Voted by the Golden Turkey Awards as the worst movie ever made. Two minutes of old footage of a dead Bela Lugosi stars in this saga about aliens trying to take over the Earth with the help of an army of the dead (well, three dead people anyway.) Stars Tor Johnson, Paul Marco, Conrad Brooks, Vampira, Criswell, Gregory Walcott, Duke Moore, and Norma McCarty Wood.
All these films are razor sharp and clearer than they’ve been in many years. They all include a theatrical trailer, and “Plan 9 From Outer Space” includes a very worthwhile 2-hour documentary, “Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion.”
What is Bad? ^ Ed Wood's movies sure aren't "bad". As far as I'm concerned, the only way a movie can be bad is if it is neither intellectually stimulating or entertaining. Sure, Ed Wood's films won't get you thinking, but when he set out to make his films his only goal was to entertain, and this is a goal he certainly accomplished. Of course, just because something is not bad doesn't mean it is great either, but if you judge Ed Wood's films by their entertainment value, they are some of the best ever made.
Sure, some of the entertainment value of Wood's films comes from his inept direction, stilted dialogue, and obviously poor budgets, but despite this, his films have a great sense of sincerity and enthusiasm to them which make them endearing and contagious. When I watch a Wood film, I don't just laugh AT them (which is something I do), I also laugh WITH them. It is clear Wood is having fun and wants his audience to have fun as well.
And what a brave and daring filmmaker he was! Look at the subject matter of "Glen or Glenda", in which he so readily bared his soul about being a transvestite at the risk of public rejection and humiliation, especially considering the time period it was made! Also, at a time when any actor who was a little bit different was being blacklisted, Ed Wood was willing to cast a known drug addict (Bela Lugosi), homosexuals, and other misfits like Swedish wrestling star Tor Johnson. Later directors like Fellini (who goes out of his way to cast unusual people) owe a great debt to Ed Wood.
And you don't get the sense that Wood's in it for the profit or glory, but instead that he is a genuinely nice guy who is in it for his own fun and because he cares about the audience.
And what imagination! Look for example at "Plan 9 From Outer Space". You don't get the usual alien invasion story which was being rehashed over and over in 1950s sci-fi. You also get zombies and vampires at a time they were rarely appearing in movies! And instead of having the aliens unseen in their flying saucers, you get to meet them and learn something of their motivations. He also creates a sympathetic zombie played by Bela Lugosi/Bela Lugosi's wife's chiropractor by showing how he died from grief over his wife's death. No one-dimensional characters here! And even in a movie like "Glenn or Glenda", which is about transvestism, he manages to get in footage of such things as WWII Pacific warfare and Bela Lugosi playing the evil puppetmaster PULLING "THE STRINGS!!" of society, and making us dance like his mindless slaves!
My only quible with this collection is that they should have included "Night of the Ghouls" (the sequel to "Bride of the Monster") instead of "Jail Bait" (not one of his more entertaining -- its misleading title refers to a gun). But if you enjoy "Plan 9", you should enjoy this box set.
Yes, it is sometimes fun to watch Wood's movies merely because they are so "bad". But as far as I'm concerned, Ed Wood's films deserve a place in the Criterion collection as some of the most entertaining movies ever made.
Eddie Agonistes ^ Here was a man who loved what he did. He could have been the fellow from "The Loved One" who delighted in his job at the pet cemetary; he could have been the gardner who loved the blossoms; he may even have been a Louisiana governer grinning over his goats before the FBI called. Ed was enamored of the movies' esthetic arts. And I am enamored of the the Bardot of fifty years ago--neither has a grasp on the way things actually are. In this set we find four of Ed's meisterwerk's: "Glen or Glenda" (I always thought the devil would be better dressed), "Jailbait" (the youngest member of the cast may be Lyle Talbot--I suspect false advertising), "Bride of the Monster" (c'mon--Loretta King resisted all liquids--why should we believe we should be killed by a sea creature?), and "Plan 9" (the aply named Dudley Manlove's line "All you of earth are idiots" suddenly seems a truism). I cannot recommend this set for nitpickers or other such maniacs, but for those who crave a laugh: buy it.
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